“It’s her birthday! You’re supposed to talk about stuff like this, right mom?”

“Granny?”

“Yes, Mark?”

“Were mom and aunt Helen always like this?”

“Yes, Mark.”

“No we were not! We spent a few years as babies, after all.”

“And things rapidly got worse after that. Remember that one time in high
school?”

“Mom! You’re not gonna bring up THAT embarrassing story again, are you?”

“For once I agree with Jessica, haven’t you told that one enough already?”

“Mark hasn’t heard it, have you Mark?”

“I don’t even know which story it is.”

“Mom, please, I beg of you, not again.”

“It was the year 2025…”

“Oh, crap.”

* * * * *

“Minister of Foreign Affairs Hans van der Laan has returned from his visit to
the United States of America yesterday evening. He has been in the country for
five days, visiting the capitol first, then touring the country side. Van der
Laan’s visit ended with a visit to the ruins of Washington, the former capitol
of the United States, which---”
Brooke’s hand landed heavily on the alarm-clock, effectively stopping its
production of sound. The blonde then turned around and faced the woman lying
next to her. She grinned sleepily at her.

“Morning.”

“Morning.”

“What time is it?”

“About 7 o’clock. I should probably get up.”

“Do you have to?”

“I need to help Helen and Jess get ready for school.”

“They can do it themselves.”

Sam snuggled up closer to Brooke and kissed her neck.

“Come on, it’s my day off.”

“Sorry, I really have to. But if you wait here until they get out the door…”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“OK then.”

Sam kissed Brooke on the lips, yawned and turned around again. Brooke shook her
head, got out of bed and started to dress.

~~~~~

She was met in the kitchen with a fairly unfamiliar sight. Her two daughters
were sitting at the table, quietly having breakfast. Usually they’d be arguing
about something or the other about now. And if it wasn’t something significant,
like the current economic status of some obscure country in Africa, it would be
about who dated who and about how stupid it was of the other girl to have a
different sexual orientation.

For a pair of identical twins, they were remarkably different.

“Morning girls.”

“Hi mom.”

“Hi mom.”

“Not bickering today, I see?” Brooke said amused as she sat down at the table.

“Mom’s not working today.” Helen said. “So we thought we’d give her a break and
not wake her by yelling at each other.”

“How very noble of you.”

“Yeah, it was quite a sacrifice.”

“Pffft.” Jessica huffed. “Sacrifice. You don’t know the meaning of the word.”

“And you do?”

“Well… no, but I still…”

“Girls.”

“Sorry.”

“Sorry.”

“So do you have any tests today or something?”

“Nope.”

“No.”

Brooke nodded and ate in silence. Helen too, ate in silence. Jessica, however,
did not.

“Mom?”

“Yes?”

“Is it OK if I had dinner at somebody else’s place?”

“Depends. With who do you want to have dinner.”

“Jeroen.” Helen said quickly. “Her latest boyfriend. I mean, honestly, how many
has it been this month?”

“Hey! I do not change boyfriends every month.”

“OK, every two months. But still, when are you gonna see that all guys are
basically idiots?”

“They are not.”

“Sure they are. Mom agrees with me on this, right mom?”

Brooke smiled a little as the two girls looked expectantly at her.

“Well… I did date a few guys when I was in high school.”

“You did WHAT!?” Helen shouted. “Mom, you disappoint me.”

“Hey, she probably don’t have a choice.” Jessica said. “You know what it was
like back then.”

“No,” Said Brooke. “That was before things got bad. I was already living
together with your mother when…”

“Oh…”

“But… if it was… you know… permitted… then why did you go out with guys?”

“Permitted.” Brooke said. “You need to brush up on your history, dear. Anyway,
the reason I went out with guys was simply because I didn’t know I liked girls.
And back then, girls went out with guys.”

“So you went out with guys as well?” Helen asked.

“Yes.”

“And here I was thinking the Dark Ages were a few centuries earlier.”

“Helen, they were not the Dark Ages.”

“Sounds to me like they were.”

“Look, let’s… let’s not talk about this, OK? You should be getting ready to go
to school and all that.”

“Already going.” Helen said, finishing her breakfast. “Coming, Jess?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Jessica too cleaned up and headed for the back door. There she waited, turned
around and looked at Brooke.

“Yes, you can have dinner with your new boyfriend.”

Jessica smiled. “Thanks mom.”

“Just be home by ten.”

“I will, bye!”

“Bye.”

Brooke watched the two girls go, finished eating and cleaned up the rest of the
table. She was on her way back to the stairs when she heard the sound of rushing
water coming from the bathroom.
Well, it wasn’t the bed. But it would do.

* * * * *

“MOM! I so do NOT want to hear this!”

“Let an old woman have her fun, dear.”

“Mom, please. You know it is an impossibility for any child to even PONDER the
possibility of her parents ever having intercourse. As far as I’m concerned, mom
donated one of her egg cells to the DNA centre where they combined it with one
of yours, then implanted it back into you and that was all, OK? You never had
sex, and I don’t want to hear about it if you did. And besides, there’re
children in the room too.”

“You’ll never grow up, will you Helen?”

“I sure hope not.”

* * * * *

It was about three hours later when Sam and Brooke finally emerged from the
shower and the bedroom---

* * * * *

“MOM!”

“Oh, all right.”

* * * * *

“So what are you going do today?” Brooke asked her wife, sitting on a couch in
the living room.

“I have no idea.” Sam said with a grin, sitting opposite of Brooke in a chair in
the living room.

“Well, how about we do nothing all day and patiently wait for the kids to come
home?” Brooke suggested.

“Yeah, I think I’m gonna like sitting around in this chair, doing completely
nothing all day.”

* * * * *

“OK mom, we get the hint. Please get on with the story as quickly as possible.”

* * * * *

Helen stuffed her coat into her locker, closed it again and locked it. She
turned away from it and was about to make her way towards the class room when
somebody stopped her.

“Hi Jessica.”

Helen looked up. It was Jeroen. He was smiling at her. And he called her
‘Jessica’. OK, yes, Helen knew that her sister looked just like her. They were
completely identical, genetically speaking. But their sense of fashion was
completely different. Helen preferred to wear black, while Jessica liked bright
colours. But, if Jeroen thought she was Jessica, who was she to disappoint him?

“Yes? What is it?” Helen asked, with her most dazzling smile.

“Did you ask your mom?” He asked.

“About dinner? Yeah, I did. She thought it was OK.”

“Dinner? I thought we were going to that party at Rick’s house?”

“Party?” Helen asked. “Oh! Of course! Yes, well, I mean, I told mom we were
going to have dinner at your house with your parents and all.”

“But, we ARE going to the party, right?”

“Of course we are. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Great. See you there?”

Helen smiled. “Count on it.”

Jeroen smiled at her. For a moment Helen feared he was about to kiss her, but
fortunately he just turned around and walked away.